Update: Police say they found Munnsville woman on 'bath salts' previous times

Dick Blume / The Post-StandardJason Williams' girlfriend, Pamela McCarthy, died after she was subdued by state police with a Taser and pepper spray. Witnesses say she had menaced neighbors, threw her 3-year-old son around and choked her pit bull.

State police said there is no indication that the use of a Taser to subdue a Munnsville woman Tuesday night contributed to her death.

Investigators believe 35-year-old Pamela McCarthy was under the influence of "bath salts," an illegal substance, when New York State Trooper Christopher Budlong responded to complaints that she was choking her 3-year-old son Tuesday night.

“She really was not coherent to what was occurring around her,” said New York State Police Capt. Rodney Campbell at a Wednesday afternoon press conference. “She was not speaking clearly.”

Campbell said troopers and Madison County Sheriff’s deputies had responded to the Munnsville apartment multiple times and found McCarthy under the influence of "bath salts." During one incident, McCarthy was transported for treatment at Oneida Health Care before. In March, she was arrested by the Madison County Sheriff’s department for endangering the welfare of a child and resisting arrest.

Investigators have learned that McCarthy may have had a medical procedure involving her heart completed “as recently as last Thursday,” Campbell said.

An autopsy conducted Wednesday by the Onondaga County Medical Examiner’s Office showed evidence of a heart attack in the past three days.

However, the cardiac event likely did not take place Tuesday night, and the report was unable to determine a cause and manner of death. Results of a toxicology test are expected in several weeks.

“There is no indication that there was physical damage caused to her as a result of the Taser,” Campbell said.

Campbell gave the following account of what happened Tuesday night:

Pamela McCarthy WitnessesDavid, left, and Zach Bridge, in Munnsville, NY, who witnessed Pamela McCarthy coming out of her home, on drugs. McCarthy went into cardiac arrest after pepper spray and a taser were used by State police. She had resisted arrest. Dick Blume/The Post Standard

State police were dispatched at 7:45 p.m. Tuesday to 5262 N. Main St., Apt 2, in the village of Munnsville to respond to a neighbor’s complaint that a woman was assaulting her three-year-old child.

Campbell said McCarthy then “started choking and repeatedly punching the (3-year-old child) in the head.”

When two neighbors attempted to intercede, McCarthy pursued them into their apartment and tried to attack them. When she left that apartment, McCarthy tried to attack her son’s father, who had removed the child from the area to a nearby grocery store.

McCarthy then retrieved a pitbull from her apartment, and tried to choke the animal. She again fell down a flight of stairs into a parking lot.

Campbell said McCarthy was violently combative when Budlong arrived on scene and attempted to take her into custody, attempting to bite him and growling at him.

Budlong then advised McCarthy he would be using an electronic control device, or a Taser, to take her into custody.

Campbell said the first time Budlong deployed the Taser, one prong failed to adhere to McCarthy’s body, making the device ineffective.

“One prong struck her in the back, and other prong failed to adhere to her,” Campbell said. “It makes the Taser ineffective.”

Budlong deployed the Taser a second time by attaching it directly McCarthy, which resulted in a one-second discharge.

“That seemed to have some effect on her,” Campbell said.

Budlong was able to handcuff McCarthy with the help of a member of the Munnsville Fire Department.

Campbell said the first ambulance on scene handled McCarthy’s son. McCarthy herself didn’t show symptoms of apparent cardiac arrest until five to seven minutes after she was handcuffed. A second ambulance on scene transported her to Oneida Healthcare, where she later died.

McCarthy’s son was treated for bruising to his head and body at Upstate University Hospital in Syracuse. He was released into the custody of his father’s parents Tuesday night.

Budlong, who joined the state police in 2008, remains on patrol status in Oneida.

“There is no indication that he violated any policy or procedure,” Campbell said.

Investigators with the state police will report their results to the Madison County District Attorney, who will present the case to the grand jury.

State Police Captain Mark Lincoln said a grand jury examination is routine when police are involved in a death, to ensure the officer “was justified and acted appropriately.”

Campbell said Budlong’s decision to first use pepper spray before deploying his Taser was an example of the “continuum of force” observed by law enforcement officials.

“We try to use the least amount of force necessary in a situation, taking into account our safety and that of any civilians,” he said.

Campbell said Tasers are used to force “neomuscular incapacitation,” allowing an officer to take a suspect into custody.

“If it is a proper strike, their body will lock up for four to five seconds,” he said.

Campbell said he did not know if a Taser had been deployed to subdue McCarthy during past interactions with police.

Campbell said the use of "bath salts," which he said are often sold at head shops, seems to be spreading.

“We’re seeing more and more of it over the past year,” he said.

Campbell said bath salts are a stimulant that come in a powder form, that can be taken orally, smoked, injected, sniffed or snorted.